zlogin Command

After you install a zone, you must log in to the zone to complete its
application environment. You might log in to the zone to perform administrative
tasks as well. Unless the -C option is used to connect to
the zone console, logging in to a zone using zlogin starts
a new task. A task cannot span two zones.

The zlogin command is used to log in from the
global zone to any zone that is in the running state or the ready state.

Note –

Only the zlogin command with the -C option
can be used to log in to a zone that is not in the running state.

As described in How to Use Non-Interactive Mode to Access a Zone, you can use the zlogin command
in non-interactive mode by supplying a command to run inside a zone. However,
the command or any files the command acts upon cannot reside on NFS. The command
will fail if any of its open files or any portion of its address space resides
on NFS. The address space includes the command executable itself and the command's
linked libraries.

The zlogin command can only be used by the global
administrator operating in the global zone. See the zlogin(1) man page for more information.

Internal Zone Configuration

After installation, the zone is in an unconfigured state. The zone does
not have an internal configuration for naming services, its locale and time
zone have not been set, and various other configuration tasks have not been
performed. Therefore, the sysidtool programs are run the
first time zone console login is used. For more information, see the sysidtool(1M) man page.

Two methods are available for performing the required configuration:

Zone console login, which initiates a series of questions
from the system. Be prepared to respond to the following:

An /etc/sysidcfg file, which you can
create and place inside the zone before you boot the zone for the first time.
See the sysidcfg(4) man
page for more information.

Non-Global Zone Login Methods

This section describes the methods you can use to log in to a zone.

Zone Console Login

Each zone maintains a virtual console, /dev/console. Performing actions on the console is referred to as console mode.
The zone console is closely analogous to a serial console on a system. Connections
to the console persist across zone reboots. To understand how console mode
differs from a login session such as telnet, see Remote Login.

The zone console is accessed by using the zlogin command
with the -C option and the zonename.
The zone does not have to be in the running state.

Processes inside the zone can open and write messages to the console.
If the zlogin-C process exits, another
process can then access the console.

User Login Methods

To log in to the zone with a user name, use the zlogin command
with the -l option, the user name, and the zonename.
For example, the administrator of the global zone can log in as a normal user
in the non-global zone by specifying the -l option to zlogin:

global# zlogin -l userzonename

To log in as user root, use the zlogin command
without options.

Failsafe Mode

If a login problem occurs and you cannot use the zlogin command
or the zlogin command with the -C option
to access the zone, an alternative is provided. You can enter the zone by
using the zlogin command with the -S (safe)
option. Only use this mode to recover a damaged zone when other forms of login
are not succeeding. In this minimal environment, it might be possible to diagnose
why the zone login is failing.

Remote Login

The
ability to remotely log in to a zone is dependent on the selection of network
services that you establish. By default, logins through rlogin, ssh, and telnet function normally. For more information
about these commands, see rlogin(1), ssh(1), and telnet(1).

Interactive and Non-Interactive Modes

Two other methods for accessing the zone and for executing commands
inside the zone are also provided by the zlogin command.
These methods are interactive mode and non-interactive mode.

Interactive Mode

In interactive mode, a new pseudo-terminal is allocated for use
inside the zone. Unlike console mode, in which exclusive access to the console
device is granted, an arbitrary number of zlogin sessions
can be open at any time in interactive mode. Interactive mode is activated
when you do not include a command to be issued. Programs that require a terminal
device, such as an editor, operate correctly in this mode.

Non-Interactive Mode

Non-interactive mode is used to run shell-scripts which administer
the zone. Non-interactive mode does not allocate a new pseudo-terminal. Non-interactive
mode is enabled when you supply a command to be run inside the zone.